Wallkill’s Field Day celebrates students and life

By Ted Remsnyder
Posted 6/5/19

The Wallkill High School all-purpose field was filled with the sounds of district students having the times of their lives on May 21, as the second annual Be-YOU-tiful Wallkill Field Day 2019 took …

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Wallkill’s Field Day celebrates students and life

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The Wallkill High School all-purpose field was filled with the sounds of district students having the times of their lives on May 21, as the second annual Be-YOU-tiful Wallkill Field Day 2019 took place on a sun-splashed day. More than 100 students in total were bused in from every school in the district for the event, which gave special education students the opportunity to pair up with high school athletes and honor students to take part in nearly three dozen athletic events.

One year after the launch of the concept, the event had already grown to impressive proportions over the span of 12 months. “This is our second year doing it, but the first year we gave it a name,” Wallkill Director of Pupil Personnel Anthony White said. “Basically what we’re trying to do is we want to be an inclusive community. So we had all of our athletes and National Honor Society students, and we invited students from throughout the district to come to a field day. We made sure it was all-inclusive.

Every student has a partner that’s an athlete or an honor student at the high school, and they do a whole day of activities with them.”

The 34 different activities that the kids took part in were crafted by the high school athletes, including a contest to see how high the kids could stack pizza boxes and then run 10 yards and return before the boxes toppled over. Another game saw the students attempt to balance a ping pong ball in a cup on their heads and trying not to drop it as they deposited the ball in a bucket. “We try and work on the fine motor skills and gross motor skills for students as well as showing them a fun way to do that,” White said. Kids also played kickball in games taking place concurrently on both sides of the field, and ended the day with a dance party.

Eighth-grader Dylan Edgar had a blast taking part in the myriad activities during the day’s festivities. “I did all of them,” he said.

“They were all my favorite. I tried lacrosse today and I had never tried that before. It’s very amazing. I enjoyed it.”

Eleventh-grade student Emily Banks teamed up with her partner Gia Marie to participate in a host of activities. “We played drip drip drop, we played some lacrosse, she threw a football and did really good,” Banks said. “Now we’re just dancing around.” The high school mentors were just as thrilled as their younger partners to be a part of the field day. “I thought it was a great community event and I had a lot of fun,” Banks said.

Wallkill Superintendent Kevin Castle visited the field day and was bowled over by what he saw. “It was awesome,” he noted. “To see our kids and how they work together and help each other, and the excitement that I saw among 190, 200 students down there, this is that part of school that we talk about. This is the other side. This isn’t math, English or social studies. This is social and emotional learning where kids learn to work with other kids and it’s the citizenship piece. That’s what we saw on that day. It just brings a smile to your face.”

District staff and volunteers joined together to throw the field day, and their work paid off. “This is a huge success,” White said. “The athletes and the National Honor Society students do a really good job with the kids. We had volunteers cooking on the grill, hamburgers and hot dogs. We had salads, fruit salads, waters. Ms. (Shannon) LaRocco organized the whole aspect. It really brings the community together.”

White said that given the success of this year’s field day, the district hopes to continue the event going forward. “Our first year we had 70 (student) partners and this year we’re up to 95 partners, So each year it’s growing a little bit more. As we get a handle of how the process is working, we’re trying to always expand it and make it bigger.”